The present invention relates to a ski and safety binding assembly.
Hitherto, skis have been made as one piece and have been equipped with safety bindings for the boots generally comprising a front stop allowing lateral release and a rear heel-piece allowing release of the boot in the vertical direction in the event of excessive forces.
This design, although it has proved successful in many respects, neverthless has a certain number of drawbacks which the present invention aims to overcome.
On the one hand, if the safety binding is released, the entire ski becomes detached from the boot. The total loss of maneuverability resulting therefrom can be particularly inconvenient when skiing off-piste, i.e. in deep snow.
On the other hand, in view of their length, skis made as one piece are bulky and are often difficult to transport.
Moreover, a ski is generally made, with regard to its dimensions (length, width), its rigidity, flexibility or responsiveness, and its shape, so as to be suitable for a specific style of skiing (downhill, slalom, skiing on-piste, skiing off-piste, acrobatic skiing, monoskiiing, etc.), so-called multipurpose skis representing only a more or less satisfactory compromise. Consequently, a skier wishing to practice different styles of skiing must have several different skis corresponding to these different styles and all equipped with safety bindings.